It was September of last year when Cevat Yerli, Crytek CEO, announced that they were in fact already preparing for the next cycle of consoles. This announcement was coupled with his prediction that the next consoles race will by on by 2011 or 2012. What was interesting at that time was that he said that they are gearing up for the PS4 with their CryEngine 3. At the GDC 09 today, jaws dropped as Crytek presented the demo for CryEngine 3. Watch the vid after the jump to see what the fuss is all about:

With Asian MMOs licensing Western engines such as Unreal Engine 3 and CryEngine 2, Crytek's Harald Seely shares some of his thoughts regarding this issue.

Seely even adds what their stand is when it comes to MMO expansions and developments. Read more on the interview after the jump!

We learned last month that development studio XLGames inked a deal with Crytek and licensed CryENGINE 2 for use in its upcoming MMO game. The said title is yet to be officially announced but some are speculating that this could be AION: Tower of Eternity, which began development when the engine was still in its first build.

It looks like CryENGINE 2 is hot among MMO developers these days as Korea-based Reloaded Studios just did the same and announced that it will be using the engine in its WIP strategy MMORPG. The company's CEO Ki-Yong Cho explained:

We felt only the CryEngine 2 could support the dynamic content and massive landscapes we intend to build, let alone do justice to the unique art style we plan on bringing to our MMO. We felt it was extremely important when our game is eventually released that it will still be able to stand apart from all other titles...

Reloaded Studios wasn't able to give a tentative release date window for the project. This is going to be the studio's first original game.

 

XLGames, founded by Jake Song (creator of Lineage, former exec VP at NCSoft), has just announced that the company has reached an agreement with Crytek to license CryENGINE 2 for an as of yet unknown MMO title. If memory serves us well, while within NCSoft, the developers at XLGames began an MMO project known as AION: Tower of Eternity using Crytek's first CryENGINE.

XLGames now counts as the fourth game company to license the next-generation engine, after indy game developer Paleo Entertainment announced its licensing of CryENGINE 2 for Merchants of Brooklyn. However, XLGames' new project chalks third to WeMade Entertainment's NED in the MMO front.

The joint announcement in Korea and Germany came sorely lacking in the MMO game's details, although it was hinted that under Song's creative hands and the engine's ability to let players "physically interact with the environment," it would be worth checking on this new MMORPG from time to time.

More on news and updates on this as they come in.

 

This year's Nordic Game developer's conference is starting off on a warm note, as we pick up word that 40 guest speakers are confirmed to be making it to the event. Aside from previously reported personalities like Paulina Bozek (SingStar) and Matsuura Masaya (LocoRoco), another high-profile speaker expected to visit the event is CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson. MMORPG gamers will recognize CCP as the developer/publisher behind EVE Online. As for the rest of the new faces this time around:

• Michael Khaimzon (Crytek)
• Maurice Suckling (Mustard Corporation)
• Kevin Bruner (Telltale Games)
• Dan Paladin (The Behemoth)
• Matias Myllyrinne (Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake)
• Christian Seger and Niklas Westberg (Massive Entertainment)
• Ben Cousins (DICE)

DICE's Cousins is expected to give a presentation on how videogames are losing out to digital entertainment, while Mustard's Suckling is expected to give a talk on script-writing for MMOs. Those are the details for the moment, though we advise the readers to keep updated in case more information shows up.

Nordic Game 2007 is expected to take place this May 15 to 16, at the Malmo Exhibition & Convention Center in Malmo, Sweden. Early registrants may also want to hurry, as early-bird registrations are expected to end this March 31.

Think Second Life, only it's going to be set in Mars. That's pretty much what Avatar Reality, Inc., a new development entity dedicated to the advancement of online community building, plans to make using Crytek's CryENGINE2 middleware. Avatar Reality has recently announced that they will be licensing the engine for use in the development of their upcoming massively multiplayer virtual world (MMVW).

Set in Terraformed Mars, Avatar Reality’s MMVW will allow players to "live their fantasy lives by creating personalized characters, or avatars, in a beautiful environment." See? Second Life in Mars. Now, if there's going to be a suffocating and bug-eyed Arnold Schwarzenegger with veins all popping out of his face somewhere outside that terraformed environment, we're certain this MMVW will be an instant hit.

"CryENGINE2 is able to render the most beautiful images, in real-time, that I've ever seen in my 20 years in the computer graphics industry," said Kazuyuki Hashimoto, president of Avatar Reality, Inc. "we are certain that the quality of these stunning, realistic images stemmed from the technology and not just talented artists. After viewing the images, there is no question that CryENGINE2 is the perfect engine for us to use to build our massively multiplayer virtual world."

With last Friday having been the deadline for the submission of entries, the committee for the 9th Annual Independent Games Festival has just announced the full list of entries that will be joining the main competition. The total of entries came up to 141, which is currently a record.

At the moment, some titles have already earned special mention, but it won't be until the actual date of the festival will we know who will emerge triumphant and bear the title of "the creator of the best indie game of the year". The festival is slated for March 6 to 9, 2007 and will be held in San Francisco, California. The IGF is a group that seeks to "encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers".

Besides indie games though, the organizers of the festival is also issuing out a call to modders who would like to join the modding competition, where $5000 awaits the best entry. To quote the IGF committee, "The next deadline for prospective entrants is October 13, 2006 at 11:59pm PDT for the IGF Mod Competition, which is allowing mods from any game to compete - from Thief to Half-Life 2 to Oblivion to The Sims and beyond, all mods are eligible. From the entrants, we will pick Best Singleplayer FPS Mod, Best Multiplayer FPS Mod, Best RPG Mod, and Best 'Other' Mod finalists (each a $500 prize), and those winners will show at the 2007 GDC, competing for an overall $5,000 Best Mod prize."

The panel of judges for the event include industry names such as Bernd Diemer (senior game designer of Crytek), J.C. Herz (CEO of Joystick Nation), and Jerry Holkins a.k.a. Tycho (writer of Penny Arcade), to name a few.